Search for lost hikers goes overnight

April 2, 2013

Updated Aug. 21, 2013 1:17 p.m.

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The Sheriff's Department was initially in contact with Nicholas Cendoya, 19, and Kyndall Jack, 18, both of Costa Mesa, but their cellphone battery died and contact was lost. The hikers believed they were about one mile from their vehicle. Deputies attempted to locate them on foot but were unsuccessful. Anyone with information about the hikers' whereabouts is requested to call the Orange County Sheriff's Department at 714-647-7000. ORANGE COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT

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Friends and family of Kyndall Jack, 18, gather in the Trabuco RC Flyers parking lot in Trabuco Canyon to begin their own search and rescue hike for the missing teens. ISAAC ARJONILLA, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Searchers and dogs return from Holy Jim Canyon aboard an Orange County Fire Authority helicopter at the the end of another day in the search continues for two hikers missing since the weekend. JOSHUA SUDOCK, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Kyndall Jack's mother, Dawn, speaks to her friends and updates them on the search-and-rescue situation. Her daughter, along with her daughter's friend Nicholas Cendoya, 19, have spent two nights missing somewhere in Holy Jim Canyon. ISAAC ARJONILLA, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Searchers man a command center at Trabuco Canyon Fire Station on Tuesday as their counterparts continue to scour Holy Jim Canyon for two hikers who went missing over the weekend. JOSHUA SUDOCK, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Searchers and dogs return from Holy Jim Canyon aboard a Fire Authority helicopter at the the end of another day in the search continues for two hikers missing since the weekend. JOSHUA SUDOCK, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Searchers man a command center Trabuco Canyon Fire Station on Tuesday as their counterparts continue to scour Holy Jim Canyon for two hikers who went missing over the weekend. JOSHUA SUDOCK, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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The green BMW belonging to Nicholas Cendoya, 19, near the entrance to Cleveland National Forest. Authorities last heard from Cendoya and Kyndall Jack, 18, on Sunday night, after they called the Orange County Sheriff's Department and said they could not find their way back to their car. ISAAC ARJONILLA, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Kyndall Jack's mother, Dawn, left, is hugged by a friend Tuesday morning in the Trabuco Flyers parking lot in Trabuco Canyon on Tuesday morning. Her daughter, along with her friend, Nicholas Cendoya, 19, have spent two nights missing somewhere in Holy Jim Canyon. ISAAC ARJONILLA, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Helicopter crews transport searchers and dogs into Holy Jim Canyon as the search continues for two hikers missing since the weekend. JOSHUA SUDOCK, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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An Orange County sheriff's search-and-rescue vehicle drives on Trabuco Canyon Road near Holy Jim Canyon on Monday. Deputies are searching for a pair of lost hikers who went missing Sunday night. The search for the Costa Mesa pair continued Tuesday night. SAM GANGWER, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Orange County sheriff's officials were searching for a pair of lost hikers in Holy Jim Canyon on Monday. The pair went missing Sunday night after contacting authorities by cellphone about 8:30 p.m. Sunday. SAM GANGWER, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Looking north into Holy Jim Trail from the trailhead in the Cleveland National Forest shows the rugged terrain in the area. Orange County sheriff's officials searched for a pair of lost hikers in Holy Jim Canyon on Monday. The search resumed Tuesday. SAM GANGWER, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Members of the Orange County sheriff's search-and-rescue squad gathered at the base of Trabuco Creek Road to coordinate their search for a pair of lost hikers Monday morning. SAM GANGWER, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Orange County sheriff's deputies and search-and-rescue units gather at the entrance to Trabuco Canyon Road Monday morning. Deputies are searching for a pair of lost hikers in Holy Jim Canyon. The pair went missing Sunday night after contacting authorities by cellphone about 8:30 p.m. Sunday. SAM GANGWER, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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A helicopter searches the rugged hillsides near Holy Jim Canyon on Monday. A pair of hikers were reported missing in the area Sunday night after contacting authorities by cellphone about 8:30 p.m. saying they had been hiking but were lost. SAM GANGWER, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

The Sheriff's Department was initially in contact with Nicholas Cendoya, 19, and Kyndall Jack, 18, both of Costa Mesa, but their cellphone battery died and contact was lost. The hikers believed they were about one mile from their vehicle. Deputies attempted to locate them on foot but were unsuccessful. Anyone with information about the hikers' whereabouts is requested to call the Orange County Sheriff's Department at 714-647-7000.ORANGE COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT

How to help

Authorities ask anyone with information about the hikers' whereabouts to call 714-647-7000.

TRABUCO CANYON – The search for two teenagers lost in the difficult terrain around Holy Jim Canyon entered its third night on Tuesday with few signs of their whereabouts but more than 100 people racing to find them.

Search crews were checking abandoned mine shafts in the area where Nicholas Cendoya, 19, and Kyndall Jack, 18, went missing. Helicopters were clattering overheard, and search dogs – some ferried into wooded areas by helicopter – were on the ground.

Twenty Orange County sheriff's and Orange County Fire Authority personnel were expected to continue the search overnight with the assistance of a helicopter outfitted with night vision. Authorities planned to regroup at 7 a.m. Wednesday if the overnight search were unsuccessful.

The two teens – Cendoya, a former football player at Costa Mesa High School, and Jack, a dancer at the same school set out around 4 p.m. Sunday, family members said. They called for help several hours later, saying they could not find their way back to their car. Their cellphone died shortly afterward.

Sheriff's officials believe they strayed from a trail. Authorities also speculate that at least one of them may be injured, keeping them from traveling through the canyon.

Searchers have been looking for the two hikers within a 2-mile circle around their car. A dog picked up a scent near their car Monday morning, Giudice said. Another dog picked up a scent less than a half-mile away, at the trailhead of Holy Jim, Monday evening.

The trail is "very difficult ... it's very hard and it's exhausting," said Reserve Lt. Chuck Williams with the Sheriff's Department's search-and-rescue unit. Off the trail, he said, "you will quickly be between waist- and head-high" brush.

The teens told deputies during the cellphone call Sunday night they thought they were about a mile away from their car. They did not say whether they were injured, Giudice said.

Authorities were searching by ground and air Tuesday, using horses to traverse the difficult terrain. A search-and-rescue team from Los Angeles was flown by helicopter to a brushy area between Falls Canyon and Old Camp, along with two dogs and their Orange County sheriff's handlers.

Searchers were given authority to clear a landing zone for a helicopter on one of three large peaks closest to the cellphone tower where the hikers' last call was made, and six personnel and two police dogs were flown in. They were to move down the peaks to see if they could find the two teens.

Meanwhile, dozens of friends, neighbors and volunteers also were walking through creeks, mud and heavily forested areas, trying to find the two teens. Some of Cendoya's former football teammates were there; so were members of Jack's former dance team.

"Is there anything I can do?" a woman asked Donnie Dumain, a friend of Jack's family. "I want to help. I just don't know what to do."

"Say a prayer," Dumain said, choking back tears.

Jessica Hayes, 20, who went to school in Costa Mesa with Cendoya and Jack, helped draw attention to the search by creating a Facebook page that drew more than 400 members.

Friends described Cendoya and Jack as fitness buffs who were active in high school sports.

Cendoya played football at Costa Mesa High School. He started at defensive end in 2010, his senior year. Wally Grant, now the Costa Mesa varsity head coach, was defensive coordinator at Costa Mesa High in 2010 and still sees Cendoya on occasion.

"He pops into school every once in a while," Grant said. "There were about six or seven guys from that team who were always very close with Andrew Albers (now playing at the University of Utah). When Albers would come back from Utah to work out at school, all those guys would work out together."

Friends say Jack was a high school softball and volleyball player.

"She's a go-getter," said Mitchell Grandia, 18, who has known Jack since elementary school. "She's very athletic. Very into being physically fit."

Grandia said Cendoya and Jack are friends who often go to the gym and work out together, but are not a couple.

As the search continued, residents in the tight-knit neighborhood where the Jack family lives said they were shocked by the situation.

A Styrofoam cooler with "to the Jack family" written on top and a note offering support were left on the porch of their home.

"It's a really difficult situation," said Triana Ramazah, who has lived two doors down from the Jacks for the past couple of years. "I'm just keeping them in my thoughts and prayers and hoping for the best."

The area is in a section of the national forest in the Santa Ana Mountains, along the county's border with Riverside County. The Holy Jim trail ranges in elevation from about 2,000 feet to about 4,000 feet.

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